It is known in the art to apply or propel various substances, materials and/or media, e.g., both abrasive and non-abrasive, against a desired surface in order to “treat” the surface, e.g., polish, clean, abrade, prepare a surface for painting, remove rust, grease or oil, etc. The blasting media may consist of dry or liquid material or a combination thereof with or without a variety of abrasive or non-abrasive constituents added thereto. In many applications, the blasting media is a composite media comprising a combination of two or more components which are mixed or blended together with one another, in the desired proportion, to achieve the desired amount surface treatment, e.g., polishing, cleaning, abrading, remove rust, surface preparation, etc. Application of the blasting media by means of a pressurized applicator generally results in a substantial quantity of media and contaminants becoming airborne and rebounding off of the surface being treated. This rebounding media must be adequately contained within an enclosed treatment area in order to prevent contamination to the surrounding environment with the media and/or removed contaminants and/or debris from the surface being treated. This is especially true if hazardous materials are being removed from the surface being treated.
Containment systems, currently known in the art, are used in the treatment of objects or surfaces are to be treated including beams, pipes, fixtures, wall, ceilings panels or some other structure. These systems contain the blasting media and other material, contaminant, debris and hazardous material and suppress the harmful affects to a confined area. However, to treat these objects or surfaces, generally an operator would be required to be located inside the containment area and thus subjected to such hazardous conditions.
As is conventional in the art, after being treated it is often times desirable to refinish, resurface, seal, overlay, or apply a desired coating to the treated surface. In such cases, coatings may be applied directly to the treated surfaces or it may be necessary to apply an adhesive to the treated surface in order for an overlay or other type of coating to be applied. It is sometimes required that a treated surface have a certain profile or texture, e.g., “anchor or surface profile” to enable the coating to properly adhere to the treated surface. In some cases, surfaces are required to have a specific anchor or surface profile in order for the manufacturer's warranty to be valid.
There are a number of drawbacks associated with the prior art in relation to treating a surface with blasting media in such a manner that the texture and/or anchor or surface profile of the treated surface is uniform across the entirety of the desired work surface. It is known that there are a variety of blasting media which are used in treating different surfaces. The different blasting media have a number of characteristics which can affect the treatment of the surface. The texture and/or anchor or surface profile of a surface at least somewhat depends on the weight and size of the particle of the blasting media as well as its abrasiveness, e.g., the grit of the blasting media. Generally, a blasting media having a lower grit (higher weight and larger size particles) is more aggressive in treating a surface than a blasting media with a higher grit (lower weight and smaller size particles). In other words, a blasting media having a lower grit will tend to remove a larger amount of material from the surface being treated when compared to treating the same surface with a blasting media having a larger grit. Also, after being treated with a low grit blasting media, the texture and/or the anchor or surface profile of the treated surface will generally be somewhat “rougher” than that of a surface treated with a higher grit blasting media which tends to be smoother.
It is to be appreciated that the characteristics, e.g., the grit of the blasting media, changes during use of media, due to the impact of the blasting media against the surface being treated, the texture and/or the anchor or surface profile of the treated surface can gradually change over time, e.g., the media tends to less aggressive. This is especially true when treating larger surfaces. A number of methods have been developed to compensate for the changes in blasting media during use. These known methods include the separation and removal of used blasting media, such as by filtering, and the replacement of used blasting media with new blasting media. The removal and replacement of blasting media have been shown to enhance, to some extent, the consistency or uniformity of the surface over the course of treatment.
Another drawback associated with prior art methods and systems of treating a surface with blasting media relates to the effort required to support and operate conventional blasting equipment. Prior art blasting equipment is generally manually supported and operated. Typically, the blasting nozzle is supported by an operator who aims/controls the blasting nozzle in order to direct a flow of blasting media at the surface being treated. Due to the weight of the blasting nozzle and the pressures usually associated with propelling the blasting media from the discharge nozzle, an operator can easily become fatigued which often results in a reduce work hours as well as quality, e.g., uniformity of the surface treatment being achieved.